Efforts by the Forest Department to nurture the Olive Ridley turtle — the ocean’s most endangered species — are paying rich dividends in Vaakudu mandal of Nellore district.
Officials are roping in the fishing community in the region to help in the conservation efforts.
“We constantly monitor the turtle tracks on the sand at night as thousands of females visit the beach periodically to lay eggs,” said a fisherman called Jallel from Nawabpeta village along with his wife Zeenat Begum.
Showing a notebook maintained by him with a list of hatchlings saved, he says with a sense of pride that they were able to hatch 7,000 hatchlings during this season and push them back into the sea without being attacked by predators. The turtles live with them for over five months every year, they said, gearing up for World Turtle Day on May 23 in their own way by letting into the sea a clutch of hatchlings.
This is no mean achievement, as only one in 1,000 turtle hatchlings survive as many of them fall prey to predators and die after getting caught in trawler nets.
“I hope that one day our beach will also be a mass nesting place for Olive Ridleys like Gahirmatha in Odisha,” Mr. Jallel said.
Like him, fellow fishermen from other villages in Vaakadu mandal have also chipped in with their contributions for the cause.
Olive Ridley turtles do synchronised nesting in large numbers in ‘arribadas’, coming to the shore between November and January. They lay their eggs in conical nests about 1.5 ft deep. After 45 to 50 days, the hatchlings return to the sea.
“The persistent efforts of the Forest Department in collaboration with TREE Foundation, Chennai by roping in the local fishing community has paid dividends. They had been holding a series of meetings with the community members for over a decade improvement on socio-economic benefits for the local community including fish yields and selected a band of warriors for the cause. This has yielded results,” said Wildlife Divisional Forest Officer in Sullurpet D. Ravinder Reddy.
Since 2013, the department has facilitated saving of 45,000 turtle hatchlings before letting them into the sea, added Forest Session Officer G. Srinivas. During this year alone, 16,500 eggs were hatched in the wildlife division and released into the sea, he said.
